National People's Congress

China's top legislature on Saturday adopted an amendment to the Air Pollution Control Law that will restrict various sources of smog and make information on environmental cleanliness more readily available to the public.

Members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) passed the bill through a vote at the close of the bi-monthly legislative session.

The law stipulates that a gasoline quality standard should be established and matched with the country's restriction requirements for major pollutants.

Legislators have approved amendments to China's 15-year-old air pollution law that grant the state new powers to punish offenders and create a legal framework to cap coal consumption, the Asian giant's biggest source of smog.

The draft amendments were passed by 154 votes to 4, with five abstentions, Zhong Xuequan, spokesman for the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, told a media briefing on Saturday.